


do not go gentle into that good night

by phylocalist



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: (sort of? it kinda turned into it halfway thru), Alternate Universe - Scientists, Alternate Universe - Space, Character Study, Established Relationship, F/F, Fluff and Humor, Found Family, M/M, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Vicchan Lives, Yuri Plisetsky-centric, they're all astrophysicists basically
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-24
Updated: 2019-04-24
Packaged: 2020-01-25 22:18:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,891
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18583714
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/phylocalist/pseuds/phylocalist
Summary: Almost 4 months have passed since V-chan, Katsuki Yuuri's Mars rover, made its last communication with the International Space Station. Despite countless efforts to reanimate him, he's shown no signs of life after that last fateful message, but Yuuri can't let go.Meanwhile, Yuri Plisetsky—Viktor Nikiforov's star pupil and protegé—and his team are working on a secret project that neither Yuuri nor Viktor can know about.Even out here in space, families exist. And families makehomes.





	1. Positivity

**Author's Note:**

> this should've been out weeks ago, but i am not a good consistent writer and it was bugging me so i forced myself to just sit down and finish it. and i did! huzzah!!
> 
> this was, first of all, inspired by opportunity and her last communication effort. it kind of hit me really hard and then i was like "i'm gonna write oppy a fix-it fic" and then my brain was like "but make it yoi" so i did both of those things. and kind of word-vomited for almost 8k about how damn emotional robots make me. also then i watched interstellar for the first time and then robots made me emotional even MORE.
> 
> so, thank you to oppy for being the little robot that could and for outliving her life expectancy for over a decade. you're the real trooper and i know one day we'll bring you home, you just take your well-deserved nap and wait. we'll wake you up when it's time.
> 
> and thank you to everyone that makes an effort to explore and make sense the vastness of space. i know i probably butchered astrophysics and how NASA and the JPL works, but i did it with love. for your craft and for your effort. i love space but i don't like numbers so thank u for being the ones dealing with them.
> 
> lastly, i hope you enjoy reading this and maybe you get a lil emotional about robots too. or at least feel me getting emotional about them. also this is unbeta'd so pls forgive any typos and let me know of any glaring mistakes i missed.

_Though wise men at their end know dark is right,_  
_Because their words had forked no lightning they_  
_Do not go gentle into that good night._

Dylan Thomas

 

* * *

   
Last recorded communication — July 18th 2037:

My battery is low and it is getting dark.

Yuuri runs his hands through his hair, already messed up beyond repair, as his eyes read over that single line again and again.

It had been almost 4 months since the last communication they had had with Victory, Yuuri’s own martian exploration rover, more commonly known to their group as V-chan.

He startles when a hand rubs the back of his neck, but the familiar shape of it immediately makes Yuuri’s every muscle relax. He leans into the warmth, shutting his eyes against the glaring and accusing light of the monitor. _You’re not trying hard enough_ , it spits at him.

“You know you’re doing the best you can,” Viktor says, the weight of his hand a grounding sensation around Yuuri’s neck, because of course he always knows exactly what Yuuri is thinking. “We all are.”

Yuuri deflates at that, his shoulders sagging with guilt. Everyone is working so hard, _had_ worked so hard for the past dozen of years, it isn’t fair of Yuuri to dismiss everyone’s efforts just like that.

“I know,” he says. And then repeats it twice more, for good measure. “I know, I know. I’m sorry, it’s just—hard.”

“It is,” Viktor agrees and Yuuri leans back on his chair to rest his head against the warm and solid body of his husband. _Here_ , he rejoices. _Next to me_. Viktor places a hand on his head, long slender fingers burying in the black strands of hair, and Yuuri can see a soft smile appear on his face. “Now, c’mon. A little kitty told me a new japanese place opened up two blocks away and they have a katsudon special menu every thursday,” Viktor says, his fingers running delicately through Yuuri’s hair.

Yuuri immediately perks up, but then he frowns. “It won’t be as good as okaa-san’s, though,” he complains.

“Of course it won’t,” Viktor says, gently slapping the top of Yuuri’s head and sighing exasperatedly, but Yuuri can see the fond smile he’s wearing. “But I think it’ll be good anyway. And, you know, getting out of your lab might do you some good too, but what would _I_ know?” Viktor says dramatically, and Yuuri realizes that was his main objective in the first place.

He’s made his husband worry yet again and guilt pools in his stomach. He tries not to dwell on it too much, because he knows very well it won’t do anyone any good, and instead sighs with as much dramatism as he can muster—which, after living with Viktor for over 10 years, it’s _a lot_.

“Yeah, what would _you_ know?” Yuuri asks, in a mock-accusing tone, as he stands up from the chair. “It’s not like you almost worked yourself to starvation during the early development phase of Makka-chin.” His eyebrows raise at Viktor, who rolls his eyes and turns away with a hand wave.

Yuuri bites his lip to stop his smirk from spreading. They’ve gotten this little act almost down to a T by now. Viktor crosses his arms, his back still to Yuuri, and Yuuri can almost recite himself the words that come out of Viktor’s mouth next.

“Okay, but Makka-chin is growing up nice and healthy.” Viktor turns around, opening up his arms in jazz hands, like he’s telling the best joke of the century. “She’s _marvelous_.”

Yuuri breaks out in laughter, unable to contain it any longer. He’s always the one to break this little scene anyway, he can never keep up the act as long as Viktor does.

“That’s just _her name_ , Vitya,” he says between bouts of small laughter.

Viktor smiles wide and proud, like this was his plan all along—and knowing him, Yuuri’s pretty sure it was. He walks towards Yuuri and grabs his face between his hands, tipping him up for a small, chaste kiss. The laughter leaves Yuuri in a quiet, satisfied sigh and he places his hands over his husband’s, feeling the warmth of Viktor’s skin and the delicate band of metal wrapped around his finger.

“Do you wanna go get lunch now?” Viktor asks, quieter than before.

“Mm-hmm,” Yuuri agrees, nuzzling against his husband’s hands for a moment, then peeling both off his face. “Let’s go get some katsudon.” He smiles at Viktor.

The change is minute and probably imperceptible to anyone other than him, but Yuuri notices the way Viktor’s shoulders relax and his posture eases at that. He squeezes Viktor’s hand in apology, for always making him worry, and Viktor squeezes back in acknowledgement.

_Worrying about you is my job, Yuuri_ , Viktor had said calmly and with conviction the first time Yuuri had cracked, yelling in a fit of anxiety and guilt that he was being too much of a burden to Viktor.

The words had immediately struck him, left him breathless and gaping. The tears rolling down his cheeks had incremented and Viktor had just grabbed his husband’s hand and squeezed it, a silent reaffirmation.

They had boiled down the whole argument to that simple gesture now. Viktor had understood that it was important for Yuuri to apologize, so he let him, but always reminding his husband of his own opinion and feelings on the matter.

It never failed to amaze Yuuri how seamlessly they fit into each other’s existences.

 

*

 

“Yurio is working on a new kind of rover, but he won’t tell me what it is,” Viktor complains over his empty bowl of katsudon, his nose scrunching cutely. Yuuri bites his lip to stop himself from laughing as Viktor pouts. “I asked Otabek and Mila too, but they won’t tell me either. Said Yurio made them promise.”

“Well,” Yuuri starts, swallowing down his last bite of katsudon and pushing the bowl away. Very good, best one he’s had on the space station so far, but nowhere near his mom’s. “Maybe he wants to surprise you?”

“He doesn’t need to surprise me!” Viktor gestures wildly with his hands, his eyebrows creased. He starts fiddling with the end of his braid, which Yuuri knows is an anxious tick. His voice is quieter when he says, “I could help him.”

Yuuri smiles softly in understanding. After mentoring Yuri for so many years, Viktor feels left out now that Yuri is working on his first official project with his own team. It’s no rare sight to see Viktor Nikiforov, head researcher of the Human Space Exploration Program, roaming around the Jet Propulsion Laboratory headquarters, shadowing Plisetsky’s team. It’s also no rare sight to see him fuming at closed doors and knocking insistently, or muttering to himself about how teenagers these days have no idea what gratitude is at the cafeteria as he brews himself a cup of tea.

“He knows that,” Yuuri says. The added _you know that, too_ , is implicit.

Viktor nods, sighing, and Yuuri knows that it’s fine for now. Tomorrow, though—that’s a beast of a different color.

Yuuri extends his hand over the table, palm up and open in invitation. “C’mon, if we leave now we might still catch the ice rink empty.”

Viktor immediately brightens, his lips stretching heart-like around a smile. He places his hand in Yuuri’s and pulls him up with a mischievous glint in his eyes, like he has a plan that could get him in trouble. Yuuri laughs, delighted, and they jog to the rink, hand in hand and giggling like schoolboys on their first date.

 

*

 

“You know, you could _at least_ tell Viktor to get him off our case,” Mila says, breaking the comfortable silence that the lab had settled into.

Yuri sighs and pinches the bridge of his nose. They can’t be having this argument _again_. He rubs at his temples for five seconds and then turns back to the seemingly unending lines of code he’s fixing.

“You know I can’t,” he replies at last, curtly.

“But—”

“If I tell the old man, he’ll tell Katsuki and Katsuki _absolutely_ can not know,” Yuri interrupts the argument Mila was about to make without a moment of hesitation, not even turning from the screen. “We’ve been over this many times. I know every possible outcome of telling Viktor about Potya and they all end up _bad_ , Mila.”

“I just want him to stop knocking on our door every ten minutes,” Mila grumbles and, though Yuri can’t see her, he’s sure she’s staring daggers into the door, which has miraculously remained unknocked for about half an hour.

“You know he’s a stubborn motherfucker,” Yuri says, which finally emits a snort out of Mila.

“That he is.”

There’s knocking at the door and the air suddenly tenses up, but Yuri recognizes that knocking immediately. He gets up from his chair and walks over to the door, opening it to let Otabek into the lab.

Otabek is carrying a tray with three disposable coffee cups and Mila squeaks as soon as she notices them, hurrying over to take the cup with her name scribbled on it. Yuri smiles at Otabek as he’s handed his own cup and pulls Otabek in by the waist, placing a small, chaste kiss on his lips. This close, he gets to watch Otabek’s blush bloom under his skin and he stares, fascinated.

“Romeos!” Mila’s shout breaks the moment and Yuri sneers at her. “You have work, don’t you? The launch is soon.”

“As do you,” Yuri barks back, taking a moment to place a kiss on Otabek’s pink cheek as thanks for the coffee. “Yours _and_  your Juliet’s, may I remind you,” he says smugly, walking back to his station and sitting down on his chair again.

Mila huffs out a breath, glaring at Yuri. “Yes, well, I’m being a good partner and helping out my lovely sick girlfriend.”

“Whatever,” Yuri says, already disinterested in the conversation and concentrating back on the code. He takes a sip of his coffee as he reads over the thousand lines of code he’s already read a million times over.

tracking(0=‘Not Found’, 1=‘Signal Detected’, 2=’Signal Confirmed’)

Yuri bites down on his bottom lip, the skin already raw from all the pulling he does on it while he’s worried or concentrating. He’s been working on this code and model for over a year now, it _has_ to work. There is just no other option.

_And what if it doesn’t?_ , a small voice whispers in the back of his head, nasty and malicious. _What if you fail, just like every other time?_

The grip of Yuri’s hand around the mouse tightens and he feels his whole body tense up. Failure is _not_ an option. It has never been.

“Hey.” Otabek’s soft voice startles him, making him jump on his chair slightly and effectively pulling him out of his own head. He’s hovering over Yuri’s shoulder, looking at his face with worry creasing his eyebrows. “Are you alright?”

Yuri lets out a shuddering breath, willing himself to relax. It only works somewhat.

“Yeah, sorry, I just...“ he waves his hand up in the air. “The launch is getting to me, I guess.”

He feels silly admitting it. Him, Yuri Plisetsky, the Prodigy Kid that the Genius Dr. Nikiforov took under his wing and then secured himself a position on the ISA at merely 15 years old, is _anxious_ over his first launch. This should be like a walk in the park to him, nothing but another event in the long string of miracles he’s performed.

Yet, here he is, jittery in his seat at the thought of fucking up.

Otabek’s eyes immediately soften and he places a comforting, heavy hand on Yuri’s shoulders. It relaxes Yuri more than anything else he tried.

“That’s understandable,” Otabek reassures him, like _it is_ , like it’s normal that Yuri is anxious about this instead of confident. His hand squeezes. “Do you wanna go take a walk? You’ve been cooped up here for hours now.”

As soon as he says it, it hits Yuri just _how much_ he needs a break. He lets out a low breath and nods frantically, grabbing his half-empty coffee cup and standing up.

“Yes,” he answers. “Let’s go take a walk.”

Yuri has never had much of an interest in botany or its applications in outer space environments such as the International Space Station, but every time he takes a walk through the station, it never fails to amaze him just how many kinds of plants and trees they managed to relocate or recreate. Vegetation is almost everywhere here, like the engineers were trying to hack apart a tiny piece of the vibrant green of Earth’s vegetation and bring it into this metallic, sterile space. It definitely livened up the place, though, so Yuri guesses its purpose was served.

He stops his walk to feel the leaves of a particular tree, leaves which hang down from its crown almost to the middle of the trunk, which is how Yuri can get to them easily. His thumb and forefinger caress it, admiring the velvety texture of the upside and the plastic-y feeling of the underside. It’s like touching two completely different leaves, but they’re just one half of the same leaf.

Yuri understands biotechnology. He can very easily see how all of the intricately designed and uniquely constructed flora and fauna of Earth can inspire scientists and engineers to create things inspired by or similar to such things. He respects it.

But his gaze has always been fixed up, towards the sky.

Looking up now, Yuri can see the vast expanse of the universe around him. The transparent dome that protects the humans living inside the Station was made exactly that way to remind everyone of where they are, at all times. They’re _in outer space_. Sometimes it still boggles Yuri’s mind.

He’s standing here, surrounded at all sides by the interminable darkness of space, an insignificant speck of life against the millions of star clusters being born every second. If he walks far enough, almost to the edge of the Station, he can look down and see the beautiful blue sphere that is Earth.

Only a decade ago, Yuri was still living in one of the poorest neighborhoods of Moscow, rummaging through trash cans daily to collect the parts needed for his projects. Then, in the biggest stroke of luck Yuri has ever had, Viktor Nikiforov somehow learnt of his existence after he won first place at some shitty state-level science fair. He was 10, wide-eyed and awestruck, but he didn’t cower when Viktor asked him if he wanted to study with him at the ISA, as easy as if he was offering him a lollipop.

“I want to be out there,” Yuri had replied, the words clunky but sure on his tongue. His finger had pointed up, towards the ceiling, but they all understood he didn’t mean out of this building. He didn’t even mean out of this country. “In space.”

It had startled a laugh out of Viktor, which had made Yuri’s face go red with anger. He wouldn’t allow anyone to make fun of him, he was working hard every day to get to space. Viktor had seemed to notice that, because he hurried to stifle his laughter and calm Yuri with weird hand motions.

“That is a big dream to have, kid,” Viktor had said, but he’d sounded excited. “But those are the only ones worth having.” He’d studied Yuri with a calculating gaze for a few seconds and Yuri had swallowed hard, steeling himself under his gaze. “If you work _very_ hard at your studies,” Viktor had started, his words slow and carefully chosen. “I can promise to get you out into space.”

“It’s the only promise you’ve ever kept…” Yuri murmurs under his breath, taking the last sip of his coffee and throwing the cup into a trashcan, shoving his fists on the pockets of his lab coat.

“Huh?” Otabek asks next to him, turning slightly to look at Yuri.

“I just want to do a good job,” Yuri blurts out instead, the words tumbling out of him before he can think of reeling them back in. He curses himself mentally and blushes up to the tips of his ears in embarrassment.

Otabek nods, like he understands, and doesn’t comment further on it. Yuri silently thanks him. A few seconds later, a hand sneaks its way into Yuri’s lab coat pocket and coaxes his hand out of it. Otabek holds their hands between them, letting them swing with their walk, and squeezes reassuringly every now and then.

It’s somehow exactly what Yuri needs, and he smiles, soft and secret.

 

*

 

Sara gets released from the Medic Bay a mere week before the launch. She opens the door to the lab with wide arm motions, a big smile on her face, ready to make the announcement of her fateful return.

But the words quickly die in her mouth the moment she takes a look around the lab: Mila is sitting on the floor in some secluded corner, surrounded by piles upon piles of paper; Otabek is lost in fiddling with the robot under a microscope, surely working at some nanoparticular level and Yuri is furiously typing away at the main computer, a thousand empty disposable coffee cups strewn around him like he attracts them with some sort of magnetism.

With quick, short steps, Sara makes her way towards her girlfriend on the corner of the lab and crouches down to reach her face.

“What happened to the lab while I was gone?” she asks, voice barely above a whisper, like if any of the other people in the room notice she’s here, chaos may unfold.

Mila whimpers and rests her head on Sara’s shoulder, the papers she was holding falling down to her lap in disarray. Sara’s hand automatically goes to Mila’s hair on reflex, softly caressing it.

“Yuri turned into a _monster_ ,” Mila whines.

 

*

 

Last recorded communication — July 18th 2037:

My battery is low and it is getting dark.

Yuuri lets out a long sigh, resting back on his desk chair and rotating a little bit on it. He’s working on many more projects now and is busy with many other tasks that need his attention, he’s aware that he should be over V-chan by now. It’s been almost a year since the last communication, with no indication that V-chan could start communicating again any moment now. He _should_ let it go.

But he can’t.

For some reason, Yuuri can’t bring himself to completely forget V-chan, his first and most successful rover, the project that had brought him to the ISS himself. He owes so much to V-chan, and it seems wrong to not repay him somehow.

He starts typing into the command console, a single line of code into the communications receptor of V-chan.

play(‘Happy Together - Gerard Way (ft. Ray Toro)’)

Yuuri closes his eyes as the first chords of guitar start filling up his lab, the song playing through his speakers at the same time as it’s being transmitted to V-chan in Mars.

“So happy together…” he sings under his breath, exhaling a shuddering breath.

_V-chan, please_ …

The crackle of static coming through the ISS’s intercom system startles him out of his misery and he looks up towards the speaker installed in his lab.

_Positivity’s launch in T-minus 30_ , the voice over the speakers say. _Launching pad 0284, Viewing deck 03._

Yuuri jumps out of his chair in surprise. Yuri’s launch! His _first launch_! How could he have forgotten?!

Bolting out of the lab, he runs through the Space Station as fast as he can towards the viewing deck mentioned. As he runs, the voice over the speakers comes on once more, crushing him with anxiety.

_Positivity’s launch in T-minus 15_.

When he finally reaches the viewing deck, he’s completely out of breath and he’s sure his face is red as all hell, but he holds himself up with a hand on the viewing deck’s door and takes a second to regain half of his breath. Next to him, Kenjirou startles when he first notices him, but then smiles big and bright when he recognizes him.

“Dr. Katsuki! I’m glad you could make it!” Kenjirou says, as excited as ever. His energy always seems endless. Yuuri wishes he’d have that energy right now.

_Positivity’s launch in T-minus 5, 4…_

The final countdown starts the exact moment Yuuri can fully straighten up to look out over the viewing deck at the launching platform. At the front of the room, right against the glass separating the room and the launching pad, is Yuri’s team. Yuri and Otabek are standing close together, holding hands, gazes fixed on the launching pad and shoulders tense. Mila and Sara, next to them, seem much more relaxed and are simply leaning against each other as they watch the engines of the rocket kick on.

“Main engines on!” a voice shouts, and Yuuri quickly recognizes it as Phichit, manning the rocket.

Yuuri watches as the rocket takes off, a big cloud of smoke from the engines obscuring the view of the whole viewing deck for a few seconds. While the smoke clears, no one moves, everyone waiting on pins and needles for the confirmation of a successful launch.

He feels anxiety creep up under his skin as he watches Phichit darting his eyes all over the monitors and consoles and turning knobs and flipping switches.

“Steady egress for Positivity… Separation Phase 1 in T-minus 5, 4…” Phichit says, barely a murmur, but with the silence in the room Yuuri can hear it all the way to the back. He relaxes somewhat.

“Are you hopeful, Dr. Katsuki?” Kenjirou whispers to him at his side, his eyes glimmering.

Yuuri frowns, confused as to what he should be hopeful about, so he answers, slightly awkwardly, “Sure, I hope that Yuri’s first launch is completely successful.”

“No, I mean—” Kenjirou shakes his head, like Yuuri’s completely misinterpreting him. Yuuri’s confusion only grows. “That they’ll find V-chan.”

Yuuri’s eyes widen, sure he’s gone crazy with what he just heard and how it can possibly be true, but before he can say any of that to Kenjirou—and reprimand him for a joke in such poor taste—, Phichit’s voice booms through the intercom system.

“And Positivity’s out of orbit and on a steady course to Mars! A successful launch for Positivity!”

The room explodes in cheers and applause, a striking contrast to the anxious silence that filled it before. At the front of the viewing deck, the Plisetsky team is sharing an enthusiastic group hug with Yuri in the middle. Yuuri thinks he can see tears in Yuri’s eyes, but at this distance he can’t be sure.

_On a steady course to Mars_ , Yuuri’s head keeps repeating.

Kenjirou stops whooping and clapping next to him, and cocks his head at Yuuri’s stunned expression.

“You didn’t know?” Kenjirou asks, his tone careful this time. “Positivity is a tracking rover, the first of its kind. They’re sending her out to Mars to look for Victory.”

When Yuuri finally looks back at him, Kenjirou’s got a soft smile on his face. Yuuri’s mind has gone completely blank.

“They’re bringing V-chan home, Dr. Katsuki.”

 

*

 

“Why didn’t you tell me?!” Yuuri yells as he throws open the door of the Plisetsky team lab.

He quickly realizes that he just interrupted the impromptu party that was happening inside it, as he takes in the cans of soda, cups of coffee and boxes of pizza around the lab. All motion halted the moment he threw open the door, though, and four pair of eyes are now fixed on him.

When they realize who it is, Mila, Sara and Otabek quickly go back to eating their slices of pizza and continuing their small celebration. Yuri is the only one that keeps his gaze fixed on Yuuri and then sighs, closing his eyes and bringing a cup of coffee up to his lips to sip on it.

Yuuri storms into the lab without a care for any of the other people in it, who mostly seem to ignore him as well, directly towards Yuri.

“This is exactly why I didn’t tell you,” Yuri replies, his voice low and already kind of annoyed.

“But—but… A _tracking_ rover?!” Yuuri stammers out, apparently still too stunned to form proper sentences.

This close, Yuuri finally notices the toll this project has taken on Yuri. He looks thinner, so Yuuri is sure he’s skipped some meals while working, and there are deep purple circles under his eyes. He looks completely drained physically, and probably mentally, but there’s a spark in him now. He’s happy, Yuuri notices. Proud.

“We lose dozens of rovers every year while collecting data,” Yuri starts explaining, turning on his chair towards the computer on his desk. He doesn’t touch the keyboard, simply uses his fingers to scroll through the code on the screen. “We send them out, tell them to collect data for us, and then we don’t have a way to bring them back. We never even _thought_ of bringing them back. We’ve always treated them as disposable, left them all alone on deserted, unknown planets to erode away,” Yuri spits out, his voice getting rough, and Yuuri notices with a startle that he’s angry about this. Yuri throws his arms up in exasperation. “We don’t even know what kind of other data they might have in their storage that they can’t encode and send to us!”

Yuuri nods to his back, even though he knows Yuri isn’t looking at him. He’s thought about this too, but he always thought the risk was too great to send astronauts over to recover the rovers. He hadn’t even thought of programming _another_ rover to find rovers and bring them back.

He looks at Yuri’s back, the blond disheveled hair falling over it, and he feels respect grow inside him. Yuri is _brilliant_. If he hadn’t proven it before, being the youngest person to ever be scouted by the ISA, he’s proven it now. He’s not only improving on inventions made before, but he’s making groundbreaking discoveries and projects of his own.

Yuuri swallows hard as it hits him just how far Yuri has come. He’s no longer the little brat that clung to Viktor’s leg on the Earth headquarters of the ISA as he was carried from lecture to lecture—he’s grown and matured into a brilliant astrophysicist of his own, the kind of person that changes the world.

“V-chan…” Yuri’s voice gets small and soft, melancholic. Yuuri feels a pang of pain on his chest and he understands. Yuri clears his throat and composes himself, but Yuuri catches the slight redness of the tips of his ears poking out through his hair. “I didn’t want to leave any rover behind anymore, including V-chan. So I made Potya.”

Yuri turns slightly on his chair and angles the screen towards Yuuri, showing the code that allows the rover—Potya—to track and intercept other rover’s signals. Yuuri notices the small residue of blush still clinging to Yuri’s fair skin absentmindedly, but chooses not to comment on it, knowing Yuri’s temper.

“While V-chan is more like a dog—you give him something to sniff and he’ll look for it incessantly, will keep bringing you things that he thinks are what you’re looking for and ask if that’s what you want…” Yuri trails off, and his mouth quirks up in a devilish grin. It doesn’t completely erase the exhaustion that’s still clinging to him, but it sparks up a flame inside him. “Potya is more like a cat. She’s a hunter; made for tracking and chasing and, ultimately, catching her prey.”

Yuuri feels himself smile at the analogy too, and he asks, “And when she catches her prey…?”

Yuri shrugs. “The obvious. She searches for the rover’s ID and sends a report back to us with the rover’s vitals, location and we make the decision.”

“The decision,” Yuuri says like a statement, but it’s a question. His heart is pounding in his chest.

“Her base is equipped with small individual pods that she can load the rovers into and which can be manned from here. So, we choose if the rover is in a good enough condition to travel to another planet after Potya’s done some first aid on it or…,” He looks at Yuuri now, and his green eyes are steel-backed. This is important to him too, Yuuri realizes. “We bring them back. Home. To their creators.”

There is a moment of utter silence—or so it seems to Yuuri. His brain tries to process all of the information as quickly as it can, knowing this is a very important project for the Jet Propulsion Laboratory for the possibilities it suddenly brings to the table, but he’s fixated in only a few of the words Yuri had said.

_We bring them back. Home._

The tears spring from Yuuri’s eyes without his permission or notice. He stares at nothing as he realizes what this means, what Yuri had done for him. It was well known between their circle of friends (and a little beyond) just how badly Yuuri had taken V-chan’s lack of communication, and Yuri had used this for his first project ever. He’d worked for months and months on this code and this rover, creating a robot that could look for V-chan and bring him back to Yuuri.

Yuuri straightens up and feels himself wrapping his arms around Yuri, but he’s dimly aware of it. The only thing he knows right now is that he feels so grateful it’s spilling over, rolling out of him in tears and sobs.

“Uh,” Yuri squeaks, his arms flailing to his sides.

“Aww,” a chorus of voices say somewhere in the distance and Yuuri thinks they might be Sara and Mila, but he can’t pay attention. A camera shutters.

After a few moments, Yuri ends up reluctantly putting his arms around Yuuri and awkwardly patting his back as Yuuri lets himself cry onto his shoulder. If he opens his eyes, he can see Yuri’s ears; they’re bright red, a striking contrast against his blond hair, and he’s sure Yuri’s face is flushed the same color.

When Yuuri finally lets go of Yuri, it feels like an eternity has passed. The lab is silent again and Yuri’s face is slightly less red, but his expression is still beyond embarrassed.

“This is exactly why I didn’t tell you,” Yuri grumbles, repeating his words, half-joking as he looks at the shoulder of his lab coat, completely soaked through with tears and probably some snot. Yuuri’s an ugly crier.

Yuuri laughs, unable to feel remorse about it. He feels giddy with excitement and the possibilities. There’s no way he can feel bad about _anything_ right now. He thinks about Potya’s full name—Positivity.

Aptly named.


	2. Transmission

The clock on the computer screen strikes 4:00am as it suddenly comes to life, brightening up the dark lab and shedding light on the only figure in the room: Yuuri, asleep on his chair over the desk, snoring softly.

A window pops up on the screen, and characters start appearing.

 

...

Incoming Transmission…

...

From: Victory

 

The bar blinks for a few seconds, like it’s costing the rover to send the transmission. But, at last, two japanese kanji appear on the screen.

 

只今  
Tadaima


	3. Victory

_And you, my father, there on the sad height,_   
_Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray._   
_Do not go gentle into that good night._   
_Rage, rage against the dying of the light._

Dylan Thomas

 

* * *

 

“Yuuuuuuuuuraaaaaatchkaaaaaaaaa!”

A voice that can be no other but from annoying Viktor yells into Yuri’s room, startling him awake. He grumbles and burrows further under the covers, shielding himself from the annoying old man. He takes a quick look to his phone’s clock: 6:00am. For Christ’s sake, nobody should be awake at this hour, even less so him.

Yuri feels hands jostle him over the comforter and he grits his teeth, growing angrier by the minute. If Viktor doesn’t stop this stupid act in exactly two seconds, he’s going to snap.

“Yuratchka!” Viktor repeats, with more urgency. “Potya found him—Whoa!”

At the mere mention of Potya’s name, Yuri throws the covers to one side and sits up, looking straight at Viktor, who’s way too cheery for this hour of the morning. Fucking morning people.

“Potya what?” Yuri barks out, tersely.

“She found him!” Viktor repeats, delighted and doing little clapping motions. “She found V-chan and he communicated with Yuuri again!”

Yuri springs into action immediately. He’s going to need a strong cup of coffee before he can seriously think about _anything_ , but for now he shoves on his boots, not even bothering with the laces, and throws on his lab coat over his pajamas. Whatever, it won’t be the first time someone has walked around the ISS on their pajamas—wouldn’t even be the first time someone’s done it naked.

He sprints past Viktor, who yells something at his back, but he doesn’t stop until he gets to the main command center of the JPL. Phichit is there at the console, looking just as cheery as ever as he hands Yuri a cup of strong black coffee, not even batting an eye at Yuri’s appearance. This morning person Yuri can forgive, because he’s given him coffee.

“Report,” Yuri demands, alternating between big gulps of coffee and rubbing the sleep away from his eyes.

“Last night, at around 2:56am, Potya made contact with V-chan,” Phichit starts, pulling up the logs on the computer screen and projecting them onto the big screen covering the entire front wall of the command center. “She implemented some first aid to him, as his solar panels had been covered by a dust storm and damaged, and she made some small repairs to his battery center. This allowed V-chan to boot up again and he made contact with us at 4:00am.”

Phichit pulls up another log to show Yuri and he turns on his chair, a brilliant smile on his face. Yuri almost resents him, for how he can be so bright all the time, but as he watches V-chan’s communication replay for him as it had happened merely two hours ago, he can feel a brilliant smile of his own stretching his lips.

 _Tadaima_ , V-chan had said. Yuri knew very little japanese, only bits and pieces he’d picked up from Katsuki, but this one phrase he knew by heart. _I’m home_.

Laughter bubbles up and out of him as he realizes exactly what this means. The mission was _successful_. Potya had succeeded in doing exactly what she was meant to do and she had rehabilitated another rover, repaired him enough for him to make contact with the ISS again, and now she was ready to load him into a pod for him to either be sent off to another planet or be brought back home.

All of his and his team’s work… it all culminates here, in this moment.

Suddenly, a thought strikes Yuri. He turns to Phichit and asks urgently, “Does Katsuki now?”

Phichit’s eyes turn soft, understanding, and he nods vigorously. “He was the first to notice! I think V-chan spoke to him first.”

“Of course V-chan would,” Yuri mutters, still half-laughing, reeling from the adrenaline of the moment. He places a hand on Phichit’s shoulder and squeezes. “Thank you,” he says, the words clunky on his mouth. He’s not used to saying them, but he knows he has to in this moment. “This wouldn’t have been possible without you either, so thank you. I’ll go tell the others.”

He escapes before he can be teased by Phichit, though he still hears an “That was adorable, Yuri!” yelled to his back.

Looking for Beka is tricky. Ordinarily, he would’ve just gone back to their room if he’d wanted to find him in the morning, but Otabek is a morning person too and he likes to go on runs around the ISS while Yuri’s still asleep. Yuri’s never cursed being a night owl before, but now he does as he walks around the ISS, still in his pajamas and with some impressive bed hair, he’s sure, looking for his boyfriend.

Thank God his luck, because he runs into him without even meaning to. On his way to the cafeteria for another very needed cup of coffee, Otabek bumps into him while rounding the corner to the hallway.

“Sorry,” Otabek starts saying before realizing who it is, and then giving Yuri a confused but pleased smile.

Yuri, on the other hand, grabs him by the shoulders with a frenzied look in his eyes. He must look terrifying, but he doesn’t care at all. “Beka! Potya found V-chan! She made contact and repaired him!”

Otabek’s eyes grow large and his mouth gapes, the most expression Yuri’s seen on him since the time Yuri had aggressively asked him to be his boyfriend. Yuri understands, though, and he nods frantically at Otabek, like he’s saying _yes, yes, yes!_

Using the hands still on his shoulders, Yuri pulls Otabek to him and kisses him loudly, an action entirely too explicit for this early in the morning. But Yuri’s still running on high, like he’s on a sugar rush, but _better_. He kisses Otabek until his lips feel bruised and he thinks he might pass out if he doesn’t breathe, but he wishes he could make it last forever.

When he finally breaks off, Otabek’s lips are red and he’s breathing heavily. Yuri guesses he’s not much better. They both look manic, and Yuri must look entirely ridiculous in his pajamas and with his bird’s nest of a hair, but he doesn’t care. He couldn’t care less about _anything_.

He’s on top of the world.

After another cup of coffee and with a much calmer demeanor—and after Otabek had braided Yuri’s hair for him, because he had insisted Yuri needed to retain at least _some_ of his dignity and they both knew his bedhead was horrendous—they walk to Sara and Mila’s room.

While they aren’t night owls like Yuri, they’re normal people and no normal people is awake at 6:30am for no reason at all, so of course Yuri throws the door open and feels satisfied as it bangs loudly against the wall of their room.

He stands magnanimous on their open door, still only in his pajamas and lab coat, long hair in a messy braid, a manic grin on his face. He’s positively terrifying.

Mila shrieks at the sight of him and pulls the covers up to cover herself and Sara at her side.

“I’m naked, you idiot!” She yells at him.

Yuri scoffs. “Mila, I’ve seen your tits dozens of times and they’re nothing special, I don’t give a shit.”

Sara turns to Mila and places a hand on her shoulder. “I think your tits are fabulous, baby.”

“Anyway!” Yuri interrupts loudly, the manic grin back on his face. “Get the fuck up, you two! Potya just made her first contact and we now have restored communication with V-chan!”

“Potya _what_?!” Mila yells again, but in a very different tone. She rummages around her bed and the floor until she finds a shoe to throw at Yuri, which she does. “Get out so we can put clothes on.”

Yuri dodges the shoe perfectly and Otabek catches it on his hand one step behind him. Yuri turns back to grin at Otabek in thanks and Otabek blushes slightly and puts the shoe down back on the floor of the girls’ room.

“Sleep in pajamas like normal people!” Yuri yells before he closes the door and leans back against it, tapping his foot against the floor.

“Get laid like normal people!” Mila yells in retort.

Yuri presses his lips together to stop himself from continuing the bickering, because he’s sure Otabek wouldn’t appreciate him yelling about their sex life to the entire ISS. Mila, though, she probably doesn’t give a shit, so she’d keep the banter going. He darts a quick look at Otabek, who looks positively mortified already. That’s a no, then.

A few minutes later, Mila tries to open the door, which throws Yuri off balance and makes him trip over his own feet toward Otabek. Otabek catches him though, and Yuri takes advantage of the moment to steal a quick kiss from him.

“Okay,” Sara says, adjusting the lapels of her lab coat. “Now what did you say about Potya?”

Yuri grins again, delighted to be able to break the news again. “I’ll tell you on the way to the command center.”

 

*

 

The scene that greets Viktor and Yuuri at the command center of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory division is unique, to say the least. Bizarre, if they wanted to be frank but relatively insulting.

At the main console there is a group of people. Phichit, Viktor can catch glimpses of him through the mass of people around him, on his usual seat at the main console’s chair. Around him is team Plisetsky, all in different categories of dressing.

Sara and Mila look the most normal, in their usual clothes, though slightly ruffled, like they didn’t have quite enough time to get ready before coming here and did the best with what little time they had. Otabek looks strange in his jogging clothes, which is an indicative that he was caught while on his usual morning jog and strung along with the others. The one that sticks out like a sore thumb, though, is Yuri.

Seemingly still only on his pajamas and lab coat, how Viktor saw him leave his room earlier, despite the fact that it’s nearly 11:00am now and he should’ve definitely had time to change. His hair looks somehow better and worse than before, because now it’s braided but a lot of the hair in the braid has come loose and the top of his head and bangs are all in a mess. As Vikor watches, Yuri sticks his hands into his hair and messes it up, which explains the current state of it.

What’s more, there is a big excited smile on his face. Viktor has to do a double take when he sees Yuri laugh, earnest and warm. It’s not like Yuri can’t be either of those things—he has been, in the confines of Viktor’s trust, very few times—but he very rarely is out in the open for everyone to see.

As Yuuri walks towards the group to discuss the new data slowly trickling in through V-chan and Potya, Viktor stays back to observe them. They talk animatedly, Otabek even letting out a chuckle or two a few times, and the whole room seems alight with their presence and conversations.

The little feral kitten that Viktor had picked up one fateful day in Moscow had grown, he slowly realizes. He’s still feral, of course, nobody will take that out of his nature—but he has learned vulnerability now, too. He has learned how to retract his claws when they’re not needed and has learned to purr instead of hiss at the right moments.

Something swells within him, and with a cock of his head in surprise, he realizes it’s pride.

He’s always been proud of Yuri, of course, for all of the accomplishments the young boy had achieved since he was a child, but this is a different kind of pride. It’s not pride on Yuri’s intellect or projects, though that one also exists. It’s pride _in_ Yuri, for all the work he has done on himself as a person, and all the strength he has acquired.

Otabek had once told him, in confidence, that Yuri’s eyes reminded him of those of a soldier. Viktor hadn’t understood at the time but now he gets it. Because Yuri is strong and resilient; he moves forward despite everything and pushes himself to the limit and further.

 _He is not only a soldier_ , Viktor thinks, _but a Commander_. He’s the kind of person people follow to their deaths, put everything on the line for, because he gives them hope.

“Positivity…” Viktor murmurs under his breath. He hmms for a moment. He watches the group for a moment and decides that it’s the perfect name for Yuri’s first rover ever. It has brought nothing by positivity, both to the ISS and to their little rag-tag family.

“Hey, old man!” Yuri’s voice startles Viktor out of his musings, and he instantly looks up with a smile. “Where’d your curiosity about my rover go? Did you forget that too?”

Yuri’s teasing, Viktor knows that too well, and it’s a good reminder that no matter how much growing a feral kitten does, it will _always_ be a feral kitten.

Viktor chuckles, starting to make his way towards the group assembled around Phichit at the console. “I’d forgotten you even made a rover!” He teases right back.

Yuri gives him the middle finger.

Viktor thinks he wouldn’t have his family any other way.

 

*

 

The day V-chan and Potya make it back home, there is a big celebration among the Katsuki-Nikiforov and Plisetsky teams. Champagne bottles are uncorked, pizza boxes are passed around like candy and they even assemble a small team of chefs in charge of desserts.

By the end of it all, Yuri walks to the edge of the ISS, right where he can see the big ball of blue that is Earth.

Potya rolls up beside him and rubs against his leg, like an actual cat. Yuri chuckles and pats her on the head. _Good girl_.

After a few minutes of looking at the Earth, Yuri turns his gaze upwards, towards the vast expanse of space that surrounds them by all sides. He can see the shine of stars thousands of light years away, some of them probably dead by now, and he wonders.

One of the other rovers Potya had brought back to the ISS, a satellite sent out to photograph a distant planet that had accidentally gone into orbit and landed on said planet, had brought back surprising and promising results. The planet had viable conditions for life and its atmosphere and gravity were very similar to that of Earth. They might’ve found _a new home_.

In a few weeks, after they had made repairs on V-chan and Potya and Makkachin was back home in the ISS, they would all be sent out on a reconnaissance mission to said planet.

Yuri thinks back to their predecessors: Opportunity and Curiosity and Spirit and all of the other rovers that were mankind’s attempt of finding something more out here, something that would bring them hope. He can feel all of their dreams and hopes now, can see how they shaped Victory and Positivity and Marvelous. They’re naming them after actions now, conscious decisions that someone has to take.

Because they are taking their future in their own hands and shaping it, no longer leaving it up to fate and the universe to decide.

Because their Positivity will drive them.

Because they will have Victory.

And because, when they find it, it will be Marvelous.

**Author's Note:**

> thank you so much for reading this! i really hope you enjoyed it and sorry for the weird chapters separation but i wanted the format that the chapters offered me. 
> 
> please leave a comment if u enjoyed or hit me up on [**twitter**](https://twitter.com/phylocalist)!!


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